Yes sir, the thread did die, for the most part. But yes, I see that a lot...lots and lots of empty servers just sitting there, idle. I just recently got my nephew playing this game, and he loves it! I started a LAN server for the both of us to play, and to be 10 years old, he's really good at it, surprisingly! I do regular on an idle or fight server, and although there is no point to it, except for idling for drops, it gets pretty wild sometimes. Earlier I was on, and I had just barely missed a guy who emptied out his entire backpack, giving all of his items away so he could start from scratch. I was sad to have missed that, because I just went premium last friday, and I don't have hardly anything in my backpack due to when I was still F2P, I had to delete items in order to make room for more stuff. I still enjoy it, however, when I have time to play. I just wish I'd have been on at that particular time, lol, because it's going to be a while before I can afford any crate keys...which I've never even opened a single crate...and I have two, right now, just sitting in my inventory, wasting space. I wish keys dropped for premium players, but I guess I can just keep on wishing, lol!

I am sad that I missed the Halloween event and some other stuff. At the beginning of October I moved out to the country only fifteen to twenty minutes outside the city. So I've been stuck using my parents satellite connection via wifi since I moved and latency with satellite is anywhere from 750ms to 2000ms. I just bought a 3G/4G hotspot through Virgin mobile and will activate it when it arrives next week, hoping it will work well enough that I can play TF2 without much lag.I tried getting DSL in October, I got the runaround with Verizon and resellers and it took a Verizon tech to come out and verify that I couldn't get dsl because I was too far away from the dslam.

I am sad that I missed the Halloween event and some other stuff. At the beginning of October I moved out to the country only fifteen to twenty minutes outside the city. So I've been stuck using my parents satellite connection via wifi since I moved and latency with satellite is anywhere from 750ms to 2000ms. I just bought a 3G/4G hotspot through Virgin mobile and will activate it when it arrives next week, hoping it will work well enough that I can play TF2 without much lag.I tried getting DSL in October, I got the runaround with Verizon and resellers and it took a Verizon tech to come out and verify that I couldn't get dsl because I was too far away from the dslam.

I dunno if i'd recommend playing a shooter on a mobile connection. While pings are much better than satellite on 3g/wimax(no sprint LTE around here yet, afaik, so i can't speak on that), they're still typically 130ms or higher to same state servers according to speedtests i've done. And that's a bit high for trying to play a shooter enjoyably.

I stopped playing this a game close to a year after it became f2p and the weapons were starting to become ridiculous. I enjoyed the time when I could play on my favorite servers and play with those who were regulars and were often on the same servers as myself. A lot of the time we would use our mics and have a good conversation or laugh. Now, everyone who used to be on those servers are gone and it feels like a dead community. I know that there are still plenty of people who still play but the majority play the game because it is free and there isn't a better free alternative. I know I'll sound like a jerk but simply put, f2p is really for those who can't afford a proper game imo. Not saying they are all bad but I find you will have a much better experience if it is a paid game.

Now I play BF4 but it is nowhere near as much fun as TF2 was when it was at its prime. The simple matter is that I don't feel a connection to the community and it is not as easy to introduce and meet new people or regulars. Whereas in TF2, everyone was just there to have a blast.

I know I'll sound like a jerk but simply put, f2p is really for those who can't afford a proper game imo. Not saying they are all bad but I find you will have a much better experience if it is a paid game.

TF2 was 30 or 50 bucks right? I could afford that but I just don't feel like buying (this) a game which in what time frame Ill get bored, not play it anymore, and be done with it, having it there collecting dust.

This is a exception as it is a multiplayer online game but still...

Valve knew there were going to be kids going crazy on mic so that's why they put the mute option.

Also, dead servers? Um, I don't know what shows up on your server list but there are literally at least 50 full servers each time I get online with a lot of maps to choose from. I play literally daily.

I dunno if i'd recommend playing a shooter on a mobile connection. While pings are much better than satellite on 3g/wimax(no sprint LTE around here yet, afaik, so i can't speak on that), they're still typically 130ms or higher to same state servers according to speedtests i've done. And that's a bit high for trying to play a shooter enjoyably.

I wish I had another option but apparently if you don't live right in the city you're screwed as far as internet and even city water and sewer goes. I can't even get 4G, it's going to be either 2G/3G, 3G if I am lucky and the most ridiculous part is I only live no more than twenty minutes outside the city/village (around 6 miles) and there are a decent amount of homes around me. I am hoping for the best and that my ping is no more than 100ms, 100ms - 200ms would be alright for some classes that use hitscan weapons. Playing Sniper, Spy, Engineer, Heavy, Medic, Scout should be quite possible, however playing as Demoman, Soldier or Pyro may not work all that well.

I stopped playing this a game close to a year after it became f2p and the weapons were starting to become ridiculous. I enjoyed the time when I could play on my favorite servers and play with those who were regulars and were often on the same servers as myself. A lot of the time we would use our mics and have a good conversation or laugh. Now, everyone who used to be on those servers are gone and it feels like a dead community. I know that there are still plenty of people who still play but the majority play the game because it is free and there isn't a better free alternative. I know I'll sound like a jerk but simply put, f2p is really for those who can't afford a proper game imo. Not saying they are all bad but I find you will have a much better experience if it is a paid game.

Now I play BF4 but it is nowhere near as much fun as TF2 was when it was at its prime. The simple matter is that I don't feel a connection to the community and it is not as easy to introduce and meet new people or regulars. Whereas in TF2, everyone was just there to have a blast.

The communities are still there, and they're not the Valve official servers where jackasses run amok. The guys there do engage in amusing banter and it's great when there are admins on at the same time. I do agree that these communities are dying off and it's harder to find a good community server to camp out in.